Friday, June 21, 2013

Marriage Equality Is Not Equality

A video
making the rounds on Twitter inspired me to finally sit down and write a blog
about something that’s been circling my head for the better part of a year.
Many LGBT allies are pushing for equal marriage rights. In an environment where
you have to snare public support when it drifts across your path I can see why.
The LGBT community has the public’s attention on this issue. They need to use
it.

However, marriage
equality is only the tip of this very ugly pile of injustice, my friends. There
are rights much more important than marriage equality that remain unaddressed. As
close as we are to equal marriage rights in the US, members of the LGBT
community are miles from equality.

Did you
know:

In 25 states
same-sex spouses (or those recognized in civil unions in other states) don’t
have the right to make medical decisions on behalf of their partner because
they aren’t considered relatives. In some cases, they aren’t even allowed to
sit by their bed and hold their hand.*

In 29 states
it is legal to fire someone from their job for being LGBT.*

In 20 states
assault of an LGBT person is not considered a hate crime.*

In 31 states
there are no laws in place to specifically protect LBGT students from bullying
and harassment. *

In 33 states
there are no laws in place to protect LGBT students from discrimination by
faculty or students.*

Even legal
same-sex marriages are not what they seem. As this video demonstrates, marriages between same sex couples have a very small
jurisdiction. They aren’t recognized in most states in the US. They aren’t
recognized by the Federal government and they don’t apply as a legal union in
matters of immigration. They aren’t recognized as legal unions when traveling
outside of the US except in other countries where same-sex marriages are legal.
Married same-sex couples from other countries traveling to the US aren’t
recognized as legally wed either.

Even with
the repeal of DADT, same-sex couples aren’t recognized as legal spouses in the
military and won’t be transferred overseas with their active duty partners.

We have an
illusion of growing equality but it isn’t the truth. The above statistics are
the truth. Most LGBT people in the US are still subject to open discrimination
and that will continue long after marriage rights become law…unless we use the
same tenacity we’ve demonstrated for DOMA to fix it. I have every confidence we
can as long as we remember marriage equality is just the beginning. It’s not
the end.